Undines: Lessons from the Realm of the Water Spiritsby William R. Mistele

Undines—from the Latin root unda, which means "wave"— are water elementals, or spirits of the water world. Like their fellow elementals—salamanders (fire), sylphs (air), and gnomes (earth)—undines are united with, and personify, their element. First mentioned in the alchemical works of medieval botanist Paracelsus, undines appear throughout European folklore. Who are these mysterious creatures of lakes, oceans, and waterfalls?

Undines takes readers directly into the water spirits’ realm through stories, personal encounters, and interviews with such luminaries as Istiphul, the undine queen whose presence embodies the magical essence of the feminine. Whether seen as fact or fairy tale, Undines presents archetypal truths and insights into human nature. The powers and abilities that undines display are latent in us all and crucial to humanity’s evolution (or mere survival): harmony with nature, empathy and compassion, a deep capacity to love, and a cooperative rather than combative relationship to the world. Undines will appeal broadly to readers of mythology, fantasy, and fairy tales, particularly to practitioners that work with nature spirits and elemental beings—Druids, Wiccans, pagans, and those interested in magic and mysticism.

Excerpt

The Cycle of Nature
An undine spoke the words of this meditation:

You are on a beach. The crescent moon is in the sky. The tides once high are now withdrawing following the setting moon. And as the tide is pulled away toward the opposite side of the world, let yourself go. You too are pulled toward your opposite, flowing in harmony with nature like a wind-driven wave, like water sinking down with the undertow into a dark place where the sun is unable to go.

Just let go. There is nothing to know. Only a feeling to follow.

Now flow with me down a river that runs free. The trees on the side pass you by, but you take no note. You just let go and float.

Now travel with me far out to sea. The water is calm, mirror-like, and still but warm. The air is cold. A mist rises upon the water, stirring like curtains in a breeze, like the northern lights reflected in the form of moisture, dancing, wild, playful, free, to mingle and merge and now to rise in the air into the sky without thought or design.

You follow with your mind, tasting this liquid, dewy trail. Ascending, the moisture gathers together as clouds in the air.

Your body is now the cloud riding upon the wind, circling within itself, shape-shifting, shape-changing without end, free to dream any dream.

You travel to an island whose cliffs are thousands of feet high. Your cloud rises toward their height, caressing them, penetrating the trees, the winds like sweet songs and melodies.

The leaves catch your drops, and you are now rain falling down and fog lifting up moist, wet tears of joy, tears of pain— they are the same in these cool luminous heights where the sun’s first rays meet the cloud’s gray.
You find your way among the cliffs that give birth to streams. You become the water surging and flowing into these pools, into these falls; you hear the sounds, the water splashing down, the bubbles beneath the surface moving around.

Here in a pool you take your rest. Your time has been well spent for you are at last content. You feel pure, clear, as open and receptive as anything that is truly feminine. The liquid water shining here is a love that unites the earth and the sky.

But contentment does not imply inaction. You flow on, daring to discover the path of life unfolding.

Around, over, and beneath rocks, seeping beneath the sand, you travel on. Winding, serpentine, slow and then fast, deep and shallow, wide and narrow, it makes no difference—you are the feminine essence free to assume any identity without attachment holding you back.

Streams gather together; you become a river. Strong, passionate; feel that power driving you on. Until you meet the sea, a place of limitless dreams where like one falling asleep or another one waking to a new beginning, you travel on.

And here you become the sea stretching out your limbs from the shores of one continent to another. The waves, the tides and currents, the icy pole, the depths—this is who you are.

And here take again your rest, for a while. The stars above sing to you for you are their lover. And the sun and moon rise for you for you are their brother or their sister.

And again on and on forever, the mist rises from the surface, moisture ascends to the sky, the entire circle of ocean, moisture, cloud, wind, rain, stream, falls, river, traveling to the sea— within this circle you have learned to be free of form identity. You are water in its feminine mystery.
Follow this watery magnetism as it now ascends through your body into your brain and circles again through every cell in your body. Feel this magnetism as a universal principle that reflects and captures in its heart the light of the universe and renews all things. As dawn is to night, so this flow of love within you grants new life.

Lunar Gravity

Until Sir Isaac Newton, no one had given an explanation for the rising and falling of the tides. Gravity and the laws governing bodies in motion—why, just about any undine could have told you about the sun, the moon, and the tides, and this without reference to mathematics, physics, or school experience.

Here is an exercise you will not find on an exam in any physics class on earth. You imagine you can sense the gravitational force causing the tides to rise and fall. You sense the influence of the sun and moon on the oceans of the earth.

Visualize the moon’s drawing the oceans on opposite sides of the earth to rise due to the moon’s stronger gravitational pull on one side of the earth and weaker pull on the opposite side. You eventually get a feeling for this magnetic or gravitational influence on water, and you identify with it.

This gives a feeling for the deepest flows of magnetism in nature and also for the biorhythms that are active within our own bodies. In this way, we gain a sensory understanding of the rhythmic cycles of the moon and its cycles moving with and in opposition to the sun. Through awareness of this magnetism or, if you like, this gravity, we gain a sense of the way these celestial bodies move and feel from within water as well as within us.

The Goddess of the Earth

The Goddess of the Earth [to a young woman]: Do you wish to be anointed with my beauty and shine with my light?

Woman: Yes.

Goddess: Then two things I require: establish justice upon the earth and do as I do—make the world new.

Woman: How do I do this?

Goddess: Establish a religion without priests, temples, or rituals in which love, power, wisdom, and justice are equally honored and pursued.

Woman: [is about to ask her how, but now a merman touches her hand, probing her heart and penetrating her thoughts]

Merman: It is my skill to reveal the keys to the mysteries of the lakes, the rivers, the streams, and the seas. There is a peace as vast as the sky, as deep as the sea, as still and clear as a mirror, and flowing like water.

Woman: Can you help me find this peace within myself?

Merman: Yes, of course. Take this cup into your hands. Now relax, be still. Feel my hands on your own as we hold the cup. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Now feel you are this cup and this water. Nothing else is in your mind. You are free of all distractions. Take your time. Feel this cool water inside of you.

The water—this water is now you. The water vibrates with all the water upon our planet. This water is calm, serene, still, relaxed, and at peace. The very depths of the sea are within you. The flowing streams, the rivers, the icy poles, the waves of all the seas, they are all flowing through and within and are a part of you. The circle of the earth, the vast expanse of ocean from horizon to and over horizon around the globe: you are this vast body of water, and this water is within your soul.

See how the water like a mirror reflects clearly all that is near. Sense that this reflective power of water is your own. The light it reflects sinks into your depths. The pure essence of the sun, the moon, and the stars is captured in the taste of this substance you hold.

Open your heart. Feel moonlight flowing down upon you, anointing you. Open yourself. Feel the light of dawn and sunset, the birth of light on earth, its spectrum of wonder and color, this light is flowing through you—soft, shining, luminous, cool, soothing, full of dreams and visions. It guides us in our sleep, and it joins us to all that we can ever want.

Gaze again upon this cup. Water is so open and reflective, so deep and at peace, it contains all the feelings of every heart within itself. It holds the mystery of our opposite—the universe moves around the mysteries of the heart.

Past, present, future—they are all contained and revealed in this moment of pure stillness. Feel that this water is the purity of your love and that your love embraces the whole world.

In this cup are my love and your love also. In this cup, the separations of space and time are overcome. Here is the feeling of what it is like to finally come home. Within this cup and this water is a love that flows without beginning or end. The universe has been created with its stars and galaxies to give us a taste of the delight that is hidden within such life.

Within the depths of water, its liquid embrace, is the fulfillment of every desire—the stars and the sky above us, the depths of the sea, and the stillness in this moment are within your own heart.

Take this cup now and drink from it—drink into yourself the love that embraces the universe and that makes us all one with each other without separation. Taste the water in your mouth; go with it as it sinks down; stay with it as it is absorbed into every cell in your body. The waters of life flow through you. The beauty of the universe is within and a part of you.

And now do you have what you asked me for? A peace as deep as the sea, as vast as the sky, as still and clear as a mirror, and flowing like water?

Woman: [stares into his eyes for several minutes without speaking] Can you sit with me for a while? I want to be able to share this beauty with another without speaking.

Merman: Of course.

Water as Omnipresence

There is a magical aspect of water relating to omnipresence and akasha. You imagine you are within the ocean, but you concentrate on the way in which water suspends distance. You sense and then study how water enables you to feel an immediate contact with any other creature or place within the sea.

Some of the undines have this perceptual ability to sense waves breaking on any shore of the earth. In their own consciousness, they feel as if their senses can perceive anything anywhere within the ocean. The water serves as a medium for amplifying impressions and conveying physical sensations of objects no matter how distant.

This meditation on water leads to the clairsentient ability to suspend distance so that you can connect to anyone as if you are there with them. In this case, the ocean is used as a symbol of the astral plane, where we are able to move our astral bodies anywhere we wish in an instant by focusing our minds there.

In addition, undines such as Amue and Istiphul feel as if another being or creature’s aura is a part of their own aura. This arises because they automatically circulate energy between themselves and anything else that makes contact with them. This heightens their abilities to heal and to love. They do not feel separate because the other’s space is also their own space in that they sense every subtle vibration within another. And so this poem:

Omnipresent Love

Omnipresent love is the ability to become one with anything.
Put simply—to hold another in your heart
To desire for the other
The very best that life can offer:
The deepest satisfaction
And the highest path to perfection.
To be so open and empty, so clear, so utterly receptive
To listen so carefully
To care with such tenderness
The other’s experiences are like your own memories.
Like a mother, a brother, or a lover,
You shelter and protect,
You nourish and sustain
So that you are the inspiration
That illuminates another’s soul.
But in a more personal way,
The essence of water is discovered through daring.
To dare is to accept the world as it is
And also to dream the world as it can be.
The vision is of being complete—
Sensitive to human need
And yet also feeling what it is to be free.
I dream this dream
This love flows through me.

During certain initiations in Tibetan Buddhism such as the Kalachakra, the Dalai Lama invites the practitioners to project their minds into his chakras. A chakra is sometimes described as a nexus of biophysical energy in the body. For those who have the ability, you can project your mind directly into the Dalai Lama’s heart chakra. Then notice the sensations and feelings that occur.

When I do this, I feel like I am within a sea of compassion. It is endless. It encompasses all beings. I use the word “sea” because there is a watery, fluid sensation in his energy. The Dalai Lama has said, "As long as suffering remains to sentient beings, I will remain to serve." This declaration embodies the richness and depth of his compassion for others.

The water element in the Dalai Lama is not just an ideal on the akashic plane. It finds expression on the denser astral plane. Here its presence is felt as an emotional force animating and inspiring those who are near him.